Samira Ibrahim Islam () is a Saudi Arabian

pharmaceutical Scientist Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the m ...

. She heads King Fahd Medical Research Center's Drug Monitoring Unit at

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) () is a public research university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1967 as a private university by a group of businessmen led by Muhammad Bakhashab and including author Hamza Bogary, it was named after ...

. She was instrumental in securing formal university education for women in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Early life and education

Islam was born in al-Hafuf, al-Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia. Following her secondary education, Islam was sent to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

to finish her schooling. She initially enrolled at the Medical School at

Alexandria University Alexandria University () is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an independent entity in 1942. It was known as ...

but transferred to the School of Pharmacy after a year. Here she obtained a BSc in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences in 1964, followed by a Masters in 1966. Islam continued to study pharmacology, becoming the first Saudi woman to earn a PhD in 1970.

Career

In 1971, Islam began to lecture at

. She was appointed Academic Advisor for the girl's section of the Makkah and Jeddah branches of the university in 1973. She worked to establish formal university education for Saudi women. She became Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1974. In 1983, she was appointed as Professor of Pharmacology, becoming the first person from Saudi Arabia to achieve this. Islam has been recognized as an advocate of the nursing profession and founded the first faculty of nursing in Saudi Arabia in 1976.

Research

Islam has investigated

drug metabolism Drug metabolism is the metabolic breakdown of drugs by living organisms, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. More generally, xenobiotic metabolism (from the Greek xenos "stranger" and biotic "related to living beings") is the set o ...

as it pertains to the Saudi population. She founded and heads the Drug Monitoring Unit of King Fahd Medical Research Center at

. Islam is on the board of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation. Islam received a Makkah Award of Excellence for her research on the effects and impact of medication on Saudis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Samira Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alexandria University alumni Academic staff of King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabian pharmacologists Saudi Arabian women chemists Women pharmacologists 21st-century women scientists 21st-century Saudi Arabian women scientists

Early life and education

Career

Research

See also

References